In polymer materials processing, the materials are all plasticated and melted by a plasticating and conveying device and delivered to a die having a specific shape to form an article. On one hand, the plasticating and conveying process of the polymer materials occupies most of the energy consumption in processing the polymer materials; on the other hand, in the plasticating and conveying process of polymer materials, it is possible to fill the polymer material matrix with different types of inorganic fillers and various plant fibers, or blend different types of polymer materials to obtain high-performance composite polymer materials, so as to meet the needs of contemporary industry development. The plasticating and conveying process of polymer materials plays a decisive role in reducing the energy consumption, improving the mixing effect of polymer materials and improving the product performance. Therefore, changing plasticating and conveying in polymer materials processing can meet the development needs of the polymer material processing technology.
Currently, the plasticating and conveying technology and equipment of polymer materials widely used at home and abroad mainly takes a screw as the core component and principle feature; however, due to the shear drag processing principle of the screw, the equipment of this structure commonly has such defects as high energy consumption, poor dispersing and mixing effects, a long thermo-mechanical distance, large-scale equipment, and hard processing of complex materials.
While the plasticating and conveying method of a polymer-material blade based on elongation rheology forces the materials to be melted, plasticated and mixed through the periodic change in the processing volume of the materials, wherein flow and deformation of the materials are mainly controlled by the tensile stress, and the principal velocity gradient is in the same direction as its principal flow and deformation, which exhibit the elongation rheology behavior, thus solving the problem that the plasticating capacity of the screw processing machinery mainly depends on the external and internal frictions of the materials. Compared with the screw plasticating and conveying method, the blade plasticating and conveying method has such advantages as low energy consumption, a short thermo-mechanical distance, high adaptability to materials, and good dispersing and mixing effects. However, in the blade plasticating and conveying process, the polymer material conveying channel is non-streamlined and has a dead end, which is not conducive to plasticization and mixed modification of the processed thermo-sensitive polymer materials.
Thus, in view of the problems with the current plasticating and conveying process, for polymer materials processing, it is of great significance to develop a new plasticating and conveying method and device with such advantages as low energy consumption, a short thermo-mechanical distance, high adaptability to materials, and good dispersing and mixing effects, with the plasticating and conveying channel streamlined, having no dead end, and easy to exhaust.